The Saturday before last, after starting the evening off with a curry and a couple of bottles of Black Sheep Ale at our favourite curry house (the Lime Tree in Prestwich), we (Jo, myself and our friends Andy and Dawn) headed up to Bury to visit the Trackside (we were there just before Tyson, by the sound of things).

Talk about a tricky decision when I got to the bar. The Trackside is usually a good bet for a dark beer or two, but last Saturday there was a choice of four, plus assorted bitters and pale ales. I started off (possibly a little rashly) with a pint of Acorn Gorlovka Imperial Stout; a gorgeous, coffee-rich, smoky stout that weighs in at a session-hefty 6% ABV. I sampled this one a few weeks ago at the Marble Arch, in a more cautious half measure. Possibly I should have saved that one for later and stuck to the halves as well, but I think I must have had a rush of blood to the head and besides, the night was still (fairly) young. That one went down very nicely indeed (although probably far faster than it should have) and so it was back to the bar, this time for a swift half of Rossendale Pitch Porter. Not quite as robust as the Gorlovka, although still a respectable 5% ABV, it was another very pleasant roast-malt experience and definitely one I’d be happy to repeat.

After that I made my first tactical error of the evening: instead of joining Jo on the Dunham Dark – a smooth, slightly sweet mild with a light touch and only 3.8%% ABV, I instead opted for a bottle of Robinson’s Chocolate Tom that I spotted in the fridge. I’ve tried both the Old Tom and Ginger Tom before, and I’d always promised myself I’d have a go at the Chocolate version, after Ed gave it a write-up a while back. This was clearly the opportunity I’d been waiting for, so I went for it. Bad move. I’m not sure whether it was because the bottle had been chilled, or the beer was too young, but in any case it was far, far too sweet for even my sweet tooth to enjoy. If Marble Chocolate is Green & Black’s in a glass then this was Dairy Milk by comparison and I’m afraid there was little else to notice or to recommend it. If I ever see a bottle on sale I might grab it and put it away for a while to see if it ages at all well, but I’ll be definitely steering clear of drinking it out of a fridge again.

My second tactical error of the night involved sending Andy to the bar for a half of Dunham Milk Stout. I should have known better: Andy doesn’t really do beer by demi-measures and came back to the table with a large half (two halves in a single glass, if you catch my drift). Which was a bit of a shame, because I’d already sampled some when Jo got a half in an earlier round and whilst I was interested enough to give it a decent go, I didn’t really want to invest in a full draught. It was… okay. Considering Dunham’s beers usually rate ‘damned good’ to ‘excellent’, I was a bit surprised at how ordinary this one tasted. A bit thin, nothing in the way of defining characteristics or stand-out flavours. I’m no milk stout expert, I admit, so maybe it’s actually a cracking example of the style, but if you ask me their Dunham Porter and Dunham Stout are much, much better. By this stage Andy was back on the bitter instead of the stouts and I had a glug of whatever he was drinking (it might have been Dark Star Sunburst, that rings a bell) and very tasty it was, too. Ah, well.

So, there you go: another great selection of beers at the Trackside, which is pretty much par for the course for those guys. We’ll be back, and it won’t be too long before we are, either.

Jo and I made the trek down to Altrincham on Sunday afternoon for the Altrincham Bottle & Cask Festival. We hadn’t been to a beer festival for ages, and although the normally straight-forward trip across the city was stymied by the tram re-fit in Manchester city centre, we thought we’d make the effort and give it a go.

This was the debut year for the festival, which was organised by Le Trappiste Belgian Café Bar. As a result, there was a big range of interesting-looking bottled Belgian beers on offer, alongside a wide range of traditional ales from a number of local mainly local breweries. It was held in Altrincham’s market district, in a covered area that was half full of market stalls and half full of kegs and tables. By the time we turned up at about 3.00 p.m. the venue was already heaving, and things didn’t seem to get any less crowded as the day went on. Undaunted, we paid our £4.50 entrance ticket (10% CAMRA discount, there), picked up our commemorative pint glass, invested in a tenner’s worth of tokens and headed for the beer.

We’d both checked out the guest list in advance and so we both made a b-line for our particular first-choice beers. For Jo, that was Bollington Oat Mill Stout, which turned out to be a rich, smooth, coffee-flavoured stout that was deceptively easy-drinking for its 5% abv. Very tasty indeed. Meanwhile, I’d legged it round to the top end of the other aisle in search of the holy grail: Thornbridge Jaipur. I’ve been hoping to encounter Jaipur for a long time now, especially as I’ve apparently narrowly missed it on a couple of occasions, so this was a pretty big moment for me and I went for a full pint to make the moment last. How would it shape up? Would it be worth the wait?

It certainly was. Even with the slightly flat gravity-pour, the first mouthful still unleashed an explosion of fresh flavours, with huge hops leading the way, with a rich malt backing it up and a slight honey-tone on the finish. Jaipur reminded me very strongly indeed of the Marble Dobber that I tried on Friday (and which was also on offer in Altrincham). They’re both big, bold, beautiful beers though, but where Dobber is distinctly citrus-sharp, Jaipur is a little smoother on the after-taste. But yes, I was very glad indeed to have tracked Jaipur down at last and I’ll be re-visiting as often as possible.

But variety was the name of the game yesterday and there were plenty of now beers to try, so Jo and I moved on. Next up we decided to double-team a couple of milds. Jo picked the Dunham Dark, whilst I opted for Phoenix Monkey Town Mild. Dunham Dark turned out to be a pleasant enough, slightly sour mild. Bit thin on the mouth-feel but otherwise quite drinkable. I preferred the Monkey Town myself: it had a slightly odd, burnt-match aroma and again it was a bit on the thin side, but there was a pleasant nuttiness to the after-taste. Again: quite pleasant and drinkable, but I’m not sure I’d rush back to either of those.

Next up we both went for the Dunham Porter, after a glowing recommendation from local photographer and beer enthusiast Adam Bruderer (@doncaosdelanada on Twitter) who was volunteering behind the bar. It was a damn good call as well – a smooth, rich mouth-feel carried a delicious blend of mocha flavours, with a very slight smoky-sweetness on the after-taste. Jo declared it to be liquid tiramisu and I reckon she hit the nail right on the head there. Lovely stuff, cheers Adam!

Jo took a breather for the next one (or did she go back to the Oat Mill stout? Details a little hazy…) while I decided to give another Phoenix beer a try, so I opted for a half of Arizona. This one was a pleasant, drinkable pale ale, but it didn’t really seem all that remarkable. Maybe one that would be better sampled on draught? Jo was back in the rotation for the next one and wanted to try something lighter so she sent me round to the Bazens section, where I picked up half a Pacific Bitter and half an Argent Pale Ale. The Pacific was dry, smoky, lightly hopped, bitter and quite refreshing. I only had a taster of the Argent – which has been brewed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Opening Times, the Stockport and South Manchester CAMRA branch newsletter – before Jo drank the rest. From what I remember, that one seemed like another fairly typical, easy-drinking, slightly anonymous pale ale. Probably a good session beer, but it didn’t knock my socks off.

By now we were getting close to about 6.00 or so – curry time – so we said farewell to Graham and Steph, a lovely couple from Altrincham who we’d never met before but had been quite happily chatting away with for the past couple of hours. They gave us the benefit of their local knowledge and steered us in the direction of a couple of good curry houses, but first we had a last half-pint voucher to spend. A swift re-visit to the Dunham Porter? We thought that sounded like the best option…

All in all then, a rather fantastic afternoon’s drinking and chatting and above all, an excellent selection of beers. Beer of the festival? On a joint verdict we’d have to go for the Dunham Porter – a truly delicious beer that I’ll be keeping an eye out for in future (and I think they might sell in bottled form in the Manchester Market micro-bar). Of course, the Thornbridge Jaipur was a very close second and if I’d been drinking that one from a full draught setup then it would probably have edged out the Porter. But then, who knows? Maybe one glorious night they’ll have both of them on in the Trackside (with Outstanding Stout and Marble Dobber alongside) and I’ll be able to test my theory.

Very well done indeed to the organisers from Le Trappiste and the relevant CAMRA branch(es). Jo and I had a great time and will definitely aim to come back next year. Although, if anyone who’s likely to be involved in setting up next year’s event is reading though, could I offer a quick suggestion? A bit more elbow-room and some indoor seating really wouldn’t have gone amiss. Looked like the landlords were only letting you use half the market hall, but if you could prevail on them to allow a bit more breathing space next time, that would be grand!